In October 2019, an interesting thread, “Red Rag”, appeared online in the RSGB Workshop group about a possible future change of direction for the hobby.
Central to the debate was “A Proposal for a Beginner Amateur Licence” – to encourage a new generation get a taste of the hobby, removing some of the barriers that we’ve established that may keep people out. This proposal generated so much debate (and support), that the RSGB Workshop groups moderator locked the thread within 24 hours, preventing further discussion.
We feel that debate on such an important matter is important, and so we caught up with the proposal’s author, John Regnault G4SWX, to explore the idea:
| A Beginner’s Licence – John Regnault G4SWX Interview (Oct 2019)
Alternatively, here is an audio-only version: For more audio features, extracts & interviews, check out Essex Ham’s online radio station – Essex Ham on TuneIn |
What is being proposed?
In summary, the proposal is for a low-power (5 watt) VHF/UHF (144/430 MHz) entry class ‘Beginner Amateur’ licence for use with unmodified equipment. A callsign and licence would be awarded after passing an online exam.
Why would we need a new licence-level?
There’s currently some concern with the amateur radio community about the hobby’s future, and this was a key topic at the recent RSGB Convention. With the tougher Foundation and Intermediate exams now in place, the ongoing drop in newcomers taking up the hobby, and fewer clubs now offering training, are we get to see numbers dropping?
The RSGB’s 2022 Strategy lists “Growth” as the top priority, and at the 2019 Convention, the target of acquiring 2,000 new RSGB members each year was set out. But where is this growth going to come from, and how do we halt the decline?
The idea of bringing in a fourth-tier licence has been proposed – this could open up the hobby to new potential markets, be more suited to the evolving maker/hacker communities, and remove the existing barriers to entry. It also potentially offers easier access to the hobby for youngsters and groups not previously served, and allows people to see if the hobby is for them before committing to Foundation-Intermediate-Full.
The idea of a new entry-level licence has been discussed before, and there were some references to the idea at the RSGB Convention, including a question from the audience during the RSGB’s Exam Update session.
Your thoughts?
Due to the moderation in effect on the RSGB’s Workshop group, there’s nowhere to discuss this (and other) ideas – and so to fill the gap, we’ve set up a new Groups.io group – if there’s interest, this will allow discussion of this idea, and other ideas that might help shape the future direction of the hobby. Want to chat? Go to HamChat on Groups.io
Thanks again to John G4SWX for the interview. We’ll be returning to this topic again soon…
Don’t we already have one, called Foundation?
There’s no point making the license so easy anyone can get it – or retention will just be as bad. There has to be some commitment to the hobby in the beginning and my view is that the Foundation License evidences that.
John addresses exactly that question 6’40” into the interview. Central to the proposal is removing the barriers to entry.
Not all clubs run training and some only run courses annually, so taking Foundation can be a challenge in much of the UK. On our 2m net last night, we were given the example of someone driving a 400-mile round-trip from Wales to Chelmsford to sit their exam.
Also, does someone really need to have to learn circuit design, polar patterns, Ohm’s Law and SDR architecture before they can use a 5w handheld?
I was the one who said about the round trip from Wales.
I bet that that candidate will still be active in a few years as they have made a commitment to the hobby.
I really dislike the idea of an online test (how do we even know who is taking the test ?), CB and pmr are available for people who cannot be bothered to put in any work.
If it is proposed that there will be invigilators at the online test then the odds are the Man in Wales would have still needed to do the 400 mile round trip.
I am a supporter of the Foundation, Intermediate and Full system especially the practical parts of the Foundation and Intermediate exams.
I have never seen the sense of having ohms law in the Foundation syllabus and all the new additions to the foundation are pointless and show a lack of common sense.
This new CB+ system is a terrible idea as far as I am concerned.
When my wife sat her Full exam it was in the knowledge that if she was unsuccessful that I would drive her anywhere in the country for a resit, it is because of this kind of commitment she is still active 5 years later, most of the proposed CB+ will be gone within a year.
If people cannot be bothered to put in any work then what kind of commitment can we expect from them ?.
Online exams: RSGB announced that it’s looking into remote invigilation (a service offered by TestReach, who run the online exams). As I mentioned last night, the US system of Volunteer Examiners allows exams to be conducted with much less fuss than in the UK.
Practicals: I totally agree. These are very useful. Personally, I’d prefer to see more practicals and less written electronics theory at Foundation. The proposal being discussed by John doesn’t do away with Foundation (and the practicals) – they’d stay. But would there be a need for practicals for a 5w VHF/UHF licence? I can’t see that a Morse assessment, using AMUs or dipole tuning would be needed before someone could use a 5w handie.
Commitment: I agree on this – the easier/cheaper something is, the less value it’s perceived to have. However, aren’t we already seeing this? A good percentage of M6/M7s drop put and are never heard from again. Looking at my pass photo, I think only 2 of 12 are still active. Suspect the same’s true for those on Dorothy’s course. They may return in later life, I guess. Question is – why do they drop out?
Current system: I’d argue that the original aim of an easy entry to the hobby (Foundation) has been lost, with the two revisions of Foundation making entry more and more difficult. What other hobby requires theory and practical exams? What percentage of M7s will be inspired by Foundation to start constructing circuits or design an SDR? The recent syllabus review was an opportunity to step back, acknowledge that the world has changed, work out what was needed to meet Ofcom / CEPT requirements, see what other countries were doing. Personally, I think that was a missed opportunity.
Kamal, the new RSGB Director made some very valid points at the Convention about relevance. Smartphones, 5G, sensors, AI, Smart Cities, IoT… how is amateur radio relevant? The point was made that we need to decide whether to keep the hobby around for nostalgia purposes, or accept that today it’s more about using, operating and connecting, than about resistors in series, polar patterns and formulae. For me, I’d like an entry-point into the hobby to be relevant and accessible (whatever it’s called and regardless of the format). Sadly, I’m not sure the current Foundation ticks all the boxes.
I have a friend Michael WJ9E, he and his wife are both Volunteer Examiners.
I did ask him before about this and he said he has to be present when the exam is taken.
The quoted by you case of the man in Wales who had to travel to Chelmsford would still have the same outcome as if there was anyone in his area who was willing to invigilate his exam then he would not have needed to travel to Chelmsford or is there also an intention to force people to invigilate to save the candidates having to travel ?.
The only other option is exams not being invigilated at all because candidates cannot be bothered to travel or people in the area have no interest in helping newcomers o the hobby..
I believe having the knowledge of tuning an antenna is essential as it is human nature that once they find out their 5watt handy does not get them into the local repeater they will be putting antennas outside or in the loft, it is pointless to pretend this will not happen, also a basic test QSO so people know how to act on air and the basic QSO format is pretty essential.
By tuning the antenna I do not mean 2 telescopic antennas and a swr analyser but the basics like each side of a 2 mtr dipole is 19 1/2 inchs (more than suitable for a handheld output to put up with)
People have always dropped out, as far as I know I am the only one still active from the exam I took in 92.
We cannot force people to stay in the hobby just because we like it.
I taught a Foundation course in the early days of the exam and from the 1 course we ran only 1 person is still active, I concentrate more on him as he stayed and do not care about the ones who decided it was not for them after all.
After he sat our course he knew how to tune an antenna as we taught it and not this nonsense with 2 telescopic antennas and a swr analyser which is a box ticking exercise and a waste of 5 minutes of the candidates time which teaches nothing at all.
Online exams are growing in popularity (in the real world as well as in amateur radio). I don’t see them going away any time soon, and students seem to like them.
As for invigilation – Remote invigilation is a “thing”. Lots of industries and establishments use it. RSGB is assessing it, and it’s something their exam provider TestReach, currently offers. There’s still scope for paper exams and club exam sessions too.
As you know – you and Dorothy recently invigilated an exam near Southend because the RSGB refused to approve a perfectly acceptable venue in central London. The upshot was that the student did his practicals in London, then spent close to 3 hours on tubes and trains to get to the exam venue. I appreciate that the time, miles and expense incurred may all help to show his “commitment” to the hobby, but was it really necessary? In the 21st Century, isn’t it worth considering doing what more modern educational organisations are doing? Shouldn’t getting into a hobby be easier than getting a formal qualification, not harder?
Re. people dropping out. I agree on both counts.
Yes – people have always dropped out, whether they studied RAE for 6 months or took a 2-day weekend course. That proves that it’s something other than the initial effort needed (i.e the entry-level exam). It could be any number of factors – boredom, not what they expected, they find a better way to communicate, they don’t like the attitude of others, expense, noise floor or a change of circumstance.
Agreed that there’s little point in irrelevant practicals. I’m not entirely convinced that 10C5 “Demonstrate that a variable frequency (LC) oscillator is not very stable when subjected to reasonable temperature changes and mechanical shock” is hugely relevant to the majority of today’s amateurs. Same is true with theory: Construction, resistors, capacitors, soldering and multimeters is all at Intermediate, so just how useful is series/parallel at Foundation?
Again, this all points to my feeling that we need a relevant and appropriate entry point to the hobby (regardless of what it’s called!)
If online is so popular then why were the RSGB disappointed that they have only had a 25% take up of thiss facility ?.
I think you misunderstand me as I feel the Foundation was not fit for purpose before the latest mangling, ohms law has always been there when it is totally irrelevant.
I know you are fully aware that I have always said the Foundation was not fit for purpose as it has always had technical aspects not relevant to what the license allows and the morse test was only included for the old guard to shut them up.
I believe in an easier test but backed up by practicals that are valid like radio operating, setting up a station and how to tune a dipole with a swr meter (not 2 telescopic antennas and a swr analyser most new license holders will not possess).
Any lazy test with no practicals I will never agree with, it is bad enough that practicals have been allowed to be fudged but to do away with them completely is not the way forward to giving new people confidence on air.
If your person in London had been prepared to wait then he could have sat at lefars earlier this month but he chose to travel to Leigh on Sea so like the person in Wales he chose to travel because it suited his needs not because their was nothing closer.
I know you and I have spoken about this before, and I think we’re broadly in agreement about what Foundation should be. I also believe that the Foundation should be easier and backed up by relevant practicals. As you know, I lobbied very hard for exactly that during the 2017 consultation. Only around 100 other amateurs bothered responding to the consultation.
Problem is – we are where we are. It’s all very well for you and me to wish the syllabus review had favoured our ideas, or that more people had opposed the RSGB plans, but that’s not what happened. With the syllabus now live, I honestly can’t see either Ofcom or the RSGB suddenly having a change of heart. We’re likely stuck with it for 5-10 years.
Maybe RSGB’s right, their changes will pay off, and we’ll see a bright new future as a result of harder exams and longer training courses. Clearly, many people do.
In the meantime, I don’t see the harm in exploring other routes to entry, such as a return to an RAE-style exam, or a beginners licence… just in case the RSGB’s plan doesn’t pay off.
Five minutes spent on air or surfing online amateur radio forums is enough to convince anyone that the vast majority of radio amateurs are crusty old farts who, because of the tough time they had getting through exams and (in some cases) being forced to display a competent morse standard before being allowed to play with the big boys, resent newcomers being able to get on air without jumping through the same hoops. They react with horror at the thought that amateur radio might end up like an extension of CB, with stupid people who know nothing about radio theory, being allowed to operate radios and talk to other people on air.
How many people do you think who use a mobile phone, computer or iPad actually have a clue how their devices actually work? How many people who drive cars could tell you how an internal combustion engine or a gearbox work? Does it matter? Of course not. It really is high time that the shackles were removed from amateur radio to allow more people to enter the hobby, instead of the current RSGB approach which seems designed to build even higher walls to deter newcomers.
Mobile phone, computers and ipads cannot cause interference so there is no need to know how they work.
You do not need to know how the internal working of your car work but you do need to know minimum tread depth, how to fill oil, windscreen washer fluid, brake fluid, radiator and many other things before you can even take the practical test (I selected the items I was tested on when I took my driving test in November 2003.
You then need to sit a practical test to show you can drive the car correctly.
This new idea is that someone sits at a keyboard answers a few questions then is let loose on the VHF/UHF bands is a terrible idea.
The foundation course has reasonable practical exams though due to laziness by the trainers some of the practicals have previously been fudged (tuning an antenna is a prime example).
I do feel that having ohms law and resistors and capacitors in parallel/series is pointless and a waste of time in the foundation which in my view showed be practicals and then simple safety, any radio theory is a waste of time as they are not allowed to design their own equipment anyway.
I had the right idea with progression nights Sharing the knowledge in an easy to understand hands on way but hey what do i know
There is a major issue of “gatekeeping” by clubs which results in a lot of new entrants to the hobby being clones of the existing pool of amateurs. We need to expand the entry routes into the hobby so that the huge level of enthusiasm in the very diverse maker/hacker/HAB/LoraWAN communities can be tapped. Who cares if retention is poor? Who cares if they don’t do ham radio the same way the existing pool of licencees does. For full licences, we could use a professional service like Pearson VUE for online exams. I can’t say I care whether a licencee understands how to set up a boatanchor radio when they are probably fluent in GNUradio/SDR and Lora and other modern radio technologies. Is anyone in the traditional club infrastructure enthusing newcomers with things like the 122GHz project or microwave SDR operation from home or New Packet Radio (don’t @ me) or GNUradio or satellite ops or DATV? Who is it in the existing entry path that teaches new ops to speak so WEIRDLY on the radio? Anyone with social anxiety or from a different social/ethnic group faces big enough challenges already, never mind having to worry about having to find a radio club and negotiate the power and control barriers of the status quo as well. The status quo has failed to boost numbers, so it’s time to find new solutions and remove unnecessary barriers.
I think Neil’s (G4DBN) statement hit the nail on the head.
Todays exams in no way reflect the hobby…..How many people, even if they pass the Full licence, can fix a modern Radio? Extremely few… As someone said earlier the trouble us the old crusties who just want people to suffer because they did…well carry on and then you will all be alone with your little radios….people are moving back to CB because they can’t admit that we are all mostly operators now…we do not need to understand electronic theory we only need to understand operations….
This thread does not actually say what the full proposal is and that it is not someone with a 5 watt handheld, the proposal is for this
“Equipment to be used will be limited to low power, 5W output, <25W ERP, CE approved VHF/UHF FM/Digital Voice transceivers. (To protect other users of the VHF spectrum in the UK and nearby nations)"
25w ERP from a handheld we are surely not that naive ?.
From an online calculator
5 watts to produce 25W erp
An antenna with 6.9897 dbd
An antenna with 9.138139 dbi
are required to get 25W erp from 5W
This does not account for losses in feeders.
All this for a quick online test ?.
(For other’s reference, the thread is here: https://groups.io/g/RSGB-Workshop/topic/red_rag/34442497)
Yes. The reference to the handheld was not in the proposal, but was taken from John’s interview (1’55”)
This is some discussion about the power and erp further down the thread, including the note that Japan’s 4th level starts at 20 watts with no antenna or erp restriction. Post 4 outlines John’s reasons for the erp restriction.
So like I said not 5W handhelds that was just a ploy for people who never bothered to read the proposal.
So he is starting on interview misleading pretending 5W handheld but in reality they will be able to use x300 antennas or small beams.
Why did he feel the need to pretend it would be just 5W handhelds in the interview when he knew full well this was not what the proposal states and he had even posted such online before the interview took place.
If we are being mislead now then who knows what will really happen.
I feel like a mushroom being in the dark and fed what mushrooms are fed :( .
With the levels of deceit this is like when they said they wanted to make the intermediate CEPT compatible that was a mistruth also they just wanted to make it and the Foundation harder so they can push this through, just another ploy for the old guard to get a lower class on the VHF/UHF bands and most will fall for the deceit.
Hi Richard,
I was equally unsure as to the reasons for 25w erp, so I approached John for clarification. Here’s his response:
5W output is exactly what a number of UK different (non-amateur) VHF/UHF licenses permit.
25W ERP is the lowest standard (6.125KHz channels) conditions for business radio.
See:
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0021/84630/ir2044.pdf
and
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/59432/ofw164.pdf
John further explained to me that this was a really deliberate choice, as was the CE marking, so that it can be demonstrated that any new licence is broadly equivalent to existing licences familiar to Ofcom, and as such would reassure Ofcom that this would not increase their interference workload, whilst giving amateur radio a new pool of people.
Does that help to clarify?
Pete
Just been having a read you mention the Japanese I see they have access to
– 10 watts output on LF, MF and HF bands
– 20 watts output on 50, 144 and 430 MHz bands
– Varying power levels between 10 watts and 0.2 watts on ALL amateur bands between 1240 MHz and 250 GHz.
Put that forward and I will then believe that this is not just a way to bring in a VHF/UHF underclass license being pushed by the old guard as long as any recommendation is VHF/UHF I will not change my view of the reasoning for this.
I have no issue on the power levels it is the restriction to VHF/UHF that is my main issue though would not be happy to see the practical elements disappearing as I always thought them to be positve not negative (except the morse element).
I don’t think a proposal to bring in a brand new “all bands” entry-level 10-to-20 watt licence, with practicals, would fly – primarily because we’ve already got one – Foundation. As the current variant of Foundation is less than a month old, I can’t see that it will be changing any time soon, or there’d be much support for bringing in a proposal for something that’s almost identical to Foundation.
For those wanting access to all bands, with associated practicals, no-one is proposed to get rid of Foundation as a route-to-entry.
It really gets under my skin the amount of snowflake entitled people that shout about removing even the simplest exam (foundation) and want everything handed to them for free, you moaners get a life and learn something instead of sitting on your idle arses and wanting everything for free,,,,,its a sad reflection of the type of society we have in this country and im fed up with all the “”want it for nothing brigade””. go buy some knitting needles and a ball of wool.
Wow Stott; you have managed to completely fail to understand what’s happening here. It’s probably not worth me explaining this to you, but I’ll give it a go.
Since you got your licence all those years ago, the world has changed and the landscape has changed quite a bit.
Today’s experimenters are no longer radio amateurs, they’re makers, coders and hackers. It’s all short-range comms, arduinos, sensors and the IoT.
It’s not that today’s innovators and experimenters are too thick to learn, or want everything for free- they just want to learn what they need to know, to do what they want, without jumping though hoops.
If a maker wants to make use of RF for a short-range Raspberry Pi project, then forcing them to learn about stuff that’s last-Century and 100% irrelevant, then sit in a church hall soldering LEDs onto drawing pins is pretty laughable, isn’t it? So is making them send a paragraph in Morse Code. Equally, if they only want/need to know about UHF comms and want a UHF licence, learning HF can wait.
As for hams? Can the average ham open their black-box SDR and fault-find on the SM boards?
It may come as a shock, but in this world of smartphones, SMT and code, the old skills that were so important in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s are now surplus to requirements.
So Stott, OM… you have two choices:
1. Get with the program, put your money where your mouth is, and get up-to-speed with today’s innovators, or
2. Mind your own business, and give today’s innovators the courtesy of studying what they need to know in the way they want to, without unnecessary hurdles or abuse from those at the twilight of their days of innovating
Finally – why the hostility? How exactly is this going to impact your enjoyment of the hobby? If your only remaining pleasure is to sit behind a keyboard reliving amateur radio’s past glories and belittling today’s innovators, may I politely ask you to jog on, OM?
Someone buy not stott a beer. I would love someone to forward the proposals that old ham’s should have to retake their tests as they aren’t competent enough with a lot of the modern technology and are more like to spam the airways because they get overwhelmed by a menu on a radio….
Fact is the entire exam schedule is a mess, most people just want to go to Mr Lynch buy a radio stick an antenna up and use it, they are not interested in advanced math and resistor codes and all that gibberish, be far better if the intermediate became the full licence with 400w and the advanced became the ability to run 1kw home brew gear do your own repairs and make adjustments to any kit and use Valve amplifiers which run at high voltage etc.
I am sure all the advanced electronics was a great idea back in the day and was very useful but its not much to Joe blogs who just wants to rag chew, I dont need to learn CPU design to use a computer or a mobile phone, its crazy, fact is if your buying brand new why do you need to know ?
Its all very well the old boys wanting to keep it elite but these days people just dont get it, would be far better with some question about remote computer use and using your radio with a computer than why you need a bridge rectifier on a psu !
Fact the old intermediate got upgraded to a full licence, why haven’t we got the same when apparently the new intermediate has more questions and is slightly harder according to some ?
“Fact the old intermediate got upgraded to a full licence”
Wrong! What old Intermediate licence? The old 2E0 and 2E1s were Novice licences and were only allowed 3 watts; they were upgraded to Intermediate and 50W, but, before that, Intermediate never existed. Are you talking about the old Class B licences? To get a Class B licence you had to take the two part RAE; to get a Class A you had to take the two part RAE and the 12wpm Morse test. The Class A and Class B licencees both took the same exam and had the same 400W privileges above 30Mhz. When Morse was abolished internationally from commercial shipping and military use, the code requirement for HF was subsequently removed. The only difference between the old Class A and Class B licence was the simple 12wpm Morse test. They both acquired the same technical level by passing RAE.
“I am sure all the advanced electronics was a great idea back in the day and was very useful but its not much to Joe blogs who just wants to rag chew,”
No problem, he can simply buy a CB radio: no electronics knowledge required.
“I don’t need to learn CPU design to use a computer or a mobile phone, its crazy, fact is if your buying brand new why do you need to know?”
Being as you’re an Intermediate licencee, how do you know that your lovely new 100W transceiver is accurately set so that speech peaks do not exceed 50W PEP (peak envelope power) on SSB? Take into consideration that output varies with the syllabic rate of speech, and conventional meters and bar graphs are too slow in operation for an accurate peak reading. Your actual output will be higher than the meter suggests. xx
Gees of the land. There is a risk of something new happening. We need to unite against this!
This is dumbing down – It’s vital that we MUST force people to learn outdated stuff that they’ll never need
There is a risk of CBers getting in – We must keep the riff-raff out!
They want less hurdles. No! We must make people jump through hoops, wait, pay more, or drive hundreds of miles to prove they are worthy!
Young people have it too easy these days. They want everything on a plate. We need more barriers, new ways to preserve our elite status. Ideas to tempt people from maker groups, away from their smartphones, or to support those with social, mental or physical impairments must be resisted.
Last time a new licence was brought in, new blood with fresh ideas came in, bringing with them their “it’s not real radio” digital and Internet stuff. More people coming in will dilute our Gentlemans Pastime. We must fight to let it die with dignity.
They want to use the Internet for study and exams. The Internet is not real radio. Scout huts and paper every time!
They want more activity on 2m – No! We need to keep it quiet. We never use it, but will fight for our right for no-one else to use it!
Open your eyes, Gees – this is a conspiracy! If you look at the detail, you’ll discover that RSGB VHF Manager wants more people to use VHF. Busted! His cunning plan appears to be to get people to use VHF to show today’s Postmaster General that the 144-146megs is active. We didn’t want the French to use it, and now we need to concentrate on making sure the UK doesn’t use it either.
Across the land, Gees, get sharpening your pitchforks and preparing your “Keep 2m Quiet” banners. Change must be fought. Youngsters and newcomers shall be repelled. Let the amateur radio die in dignity.
Campaign meeting on top band before bedtime tonight?
please lets get this passed this will help all
thanks
I would say if people are worried maybe we should introduce an elders type system we’re you can take the test online but have to be shadowed by partaking training with either a m0/ or 2e0 on a one to one
As someone who has tried many different ways of bringing youngsters into amateur radio over the years I feel that this is a uphill battle that the hobby will eventually lose.
The most common comment I have heard is along the lines of ‘why bother with radio when I’ve got Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc’
What is amateur radio for?
If I want to use a UHF handie I can get a PMR446.
If I want to rag-chew on HF I can use CB.
If I want short-range comms for a maker project or a door-bell I can use the ISM bands.
If I want to call some specific person I can use a telephone or SMS.
If I want to discuss stuff with random people I can use the WWW.
And there’s service-specific stuff like Marine VHF, business radio,
Yes, there’s a lot of stuff I need an amateur licence for – DF competitions, Moonbounce, DXCC, propagation research…
But how many folk are interested in all that? Not many, I think.
Interesting question. My thoughts? The licence says: “for the purpose of self-training in radio communication” and “as a leisure activity”
So you could phrase the same question as “what is the point of teaching yourself something new?” and “what is the point of taking part in a hobby?”. Ask 100 people, you’ll get 100 different answers. It’s different things to different people. Why we do it probably boils down to “We do it because we want to, and we enjoy it”.
I think you’ll find having a beginners licence has already been happening for some time, parents buy their kids uv5r’s and similar program with pmr and 70cms and 2mtrs frequencies and away the kids go causing a dam nuisance, trying to have a qso, oh sorry my bad, trying to have a conversation only to have some kid clicking away on the ptt disrupting a conversation, no sorry leave things alone and let them play on pmr, zello or something similar, then if they have a justified interest they’ll take it further
The reason I am on this forum is firstly, many thanks to Pete, for providing excellent training material to get me to my M7. Now that I am a 2E0, I hope my input can also be appreciated.
The subject of a pre-M7 licence?
Do not underestimate what a tiny little 5W Baofeng UV5R can do. If I drive up to the top of my local hills, such as Raleigh’s Cross, or Dunkery Beacon and even on the coast at Blue Anchor Beach, I can easily open up repeaters from over 25 to 40 miles away such as GB3WE, GB3WB, GB3WR, GB3BC, GB3RT, GB3WW. Sometimes (but not often) there is someone else there too! I’ve even had an occasional QSO.
My local repeater is GB3VS. I have only ever had one QSO on there in six months. It is a desert.
I was invited to a wedding near Daventry and set up all the repeater channels on my handhelds for the 30 mile radius of that too (I have two handhelds, so that I can cross-check that what I have done is correct). The end result in two days was complete radio silence from everyone else.
I have never managed to get a FM CQ since passing my M7. There is nobody else home around here.
Repeaters are the only place you can (not very often) find people… so there should be more time dedicated to repeater etiquette in any pre M7 starter course.
So, the question about a “Pre M7” licence…
a 5w handheld can be too powerful and disruptive if you don’t know how to program it?
Safety training is essential for youngsters,
No certified models exist for e.g. 1W transmission power
Who is there to talk to on FM 145.5/433.5… it’s a desert here!
Why Gees here it from M0s to
Oh I forgot lets just blame the Gees
I’m a G8, passed and licensed in 1980, I achieved a life goal which started when I was 4. So until 1982, I hadn’t found anything to get me on the air and then along came CB, and after a bit of practice on that, I realised I could do a lot better and found the “Enfield Emporium” where I bought an IC2E, followed shortly by a 2M mobile with 25W. By 1985, my life changed and my amateur radio went into hibernation. I discovered my lack of a Morse skill had been dropped from conditions and I had become a “Class A” and so in 2009, I unravelled the transformer primary of a scrap microwave oven, extended it to about 45m on the top of trees and bushes, made a 9:1 with “some ferrite” and and an earthing rod, and communicated with the world for a year or so. Since I found I could afford to retire in 2016, I have built a shed and filled it with radio “stuff” and have a more realistic antenna system that doesn’t seem half as good as my naked wire!
So the reason for my comment is that far from leaving the hobby, I had life issues from time to time that kept me from it and now, I am back. The “B” licence gave me access to my hobby.
A 2M / 70CM “communication” starter may well be good to get more of the interested but initially technically unskilled started and the £25 basic handheld is so much more affordable than the IC2E I had in 1982 for over £100.
I’d love to see the RSGB run with this one.
We’ve shot ourselves in the foot with the new exam syllabi. By making it harder we are going to lose many new entrants.
They should have left the Foundation alone, and just changed the Intermediate – I’m sure that’s what OfCom originally requested.